Pineapple Princesses began as a tribute to Ruby Borrowdale, the home economist behind the 'Golden Circle Tropical Recipe Book' tested in the Golden Circle kitchen and modified and updated in the Pineapple Princesses' test kitchens.
As Ruby said "pineapple is a versatile food" . . .
no fat, high in vitamin C and full of the flavour of Queensland sunshine. The blog continues as more and more pineapple recipes are discovered from around the world.

Loading...

Tuesday, 30 December 2014

“Take about half a dozen good friends prepared to dine
informally together in leisurely fashion, seat them round a table on which
stands a communal cooking pot half-full of gently simmering cheese-and-wine
sauce, equip them with crusty cubes of French bread skewered on forks with which
they will scoop up delicious mouthfuls of the ambrosial mixture.

Now add a bowl
or two of French-dressed green salad to the table and a convivial bottle or two
of the same dry white wine you used to make the sauce, and what have you got?
Right first time! A fondue party” Marina Wilson.

Basic Fondue

“. . . the traditional cheese fondue, devised, it is said,
by thrifty Swiss villagers as a means of utilising cheese grown hard with age
by melting it with wine.”

Rub the fondue pot with a garlic clove and then combine the
hock or Riesling with the lemon juice and heat slowly. Add the cheese slowly to
this mixture and continue stirring until it is boiling slowly. Blend the
cornflour with the kirsch and stir this mixture into the cheese. Add the
pepper, nutmeg and paprika and cook over a low heat for 3-5 minutes. Serve with
French bread.

Rob looks like he's enjoying himself - or perhaps he was being polite!

Melt the chocolate over a low heat, then add the cream,
sugar and salt and blend thoroughly. Stir in Tia Maria and serve with
marshmallows.

As you can see we used Kahlua instead of Tia Maria (because that was what I had in the cupboard) . . . I'm not sure I'll let Ella pour in the Kahlua next time . . . but it certainly was delicious! Anne

Cut ham into cubes and feed on to the revolving blades off a
blender, through the hole in the lid. Continue until blender is a third full of
finely minced ham then transfer to a mixing bowl. Continue until all ham is
minced.

Place egg, coarsely chopped onion and green pepper in
blender and mix until very finely chopped.

Add egg mixture to ham and mix well. Shape and roll ham
mixture into 12 balls in cold floured hands. Chill in refrigerator to firm and
then reshape into neat balls.

Heat oil in a heavy frying pan or wok and fry ham balls
until browned on all sides, turning occasionally. Drain well and keep hot.

Meanwhile, mix the drained pineapple juice, half the
pineapple cubes, vinegar, sugar, cornflour, mustard and salt together in the
blender for 15 seconds.

Pour water into frying pan and stir over heat to dissolve
pan sediments. Add mixture from blender and bring to the boil, stirring
continuously.

Monday, 22 December 2014

In a truly inspired moment Ella created this fabulous
pineapple with chocolates, a champagne bottle and green tissue paper! Thank you
Ella!!! Love it, but some of the chocolates have already disappeared . . .

The Australian
Women’s Weekly Picture Cookery: A pictorial guide to home cooking, Sydney c1950

Spread the sponge cakes with jam and cut them into cubes.
Put these into 6 individual glasses and pour a little sherry over each. Shred
the pineapple rings and out them on the cake. Cover with a layer of custard,
then top with whipped cream, some pieces of angelica and a few shredded
almonds.

To serve: Boil sugar and water for 10 minutes. Cool and
add other ingredients. Allow to stand for one hour. Add the cold water. Dip the
rims of glasses in a little orange or lemon juice, then in crystal sugar to give
frosted appearance. Serve punch in glasses with chipped ice and cherry on top.

Thursday, 18 December 2014

“For those who do not like the traditional rich fruit cake at
Christmas, this cake is the perfect alternative. The cake itself is light and
moist, and the decoration looks as festive as a traditional snow scene, or any
other design using marzipan and royal icing.

The decoration of glacé cherries, almonds and candied
angelicagives a Christmassy look, but
you can vary this according to taste; at Christmas-time, many stores and
delicatessens stock other glacé fruit such as apricots and pineapples.”

1 Prepare the cake tin. Grease and base line a deep 20.5cm
loose-bottomed round cake tin. Tie a double thickness of brown paper around the
outside of the tin, to come about 5cm above the rim.

2 Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat until
light and fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time and beat until thoroughly
combined. Add a little of the flour with the last addition of the egg, to
prevent curdling, then beat in the ground almonds and the remaining flour.

3 Drain the pineapple slices and chop roughly. Dry
thoroughly with absorbent kitchen paper. Fold into the cake mixture, then add
enough warm water to give a soft dropping consistency. Spoon the mixture into
the prepared cake tin and level the surface.

4 Bake the cake in the oven at 170°C mark 3 for 1 ½ hours or
until cooked through, covering the top with a double thickness of greaseproof
paper after 1 hour’s cooking time, if necessary to prevent over-browning. To
test if the cake is cooked, insert a warmed fine skewer in the centre – it
should come out clean.

5 Leave the cake to settle in the tin for 5 – 10 minutes,
then remove and stand on a wire rack.

6 Make the decoration for the top off the cake while cake is
still warm. Cut the glacé cherries in half. Split the blanched almonds in half
lengthways. Cut the angelica into diamond shapes.

7 Warm half of the jam until melted, then sieve and brush
over the top of the warm cake. Press the cherries, nuts and angelica on top of
the cake in a decorative design (as in the photograph or use your own design).
Melt and sieve the remaining jam, then brush over the design.

8 To serve, tie red and green ribbon around the cake to give
it a festive look. Store the cake in an airtight tin for up to 2 weeks.

Menu suggestion: This cake is equally good served at teatime
or with morning coffee.

During random cake testing in Gloucester NSW this cake was highly recommended!

Margaret Fulton
Cookbook Sydney 1979 (first published 1968)

Rich Christmas Cake

“Traditional Christmas Cooking: What would Christmas be without
a rich spicy fruit cake or a pudding fairly bursting at the seams with plump
fruits and presented with great pomp and ceremony?

Make the rich cake and pudding, also the mincemeat for the
tarts, well ahead to give them time to mature and develop richness for
Christmas day.”

Next day: Beat butter and brown sugar with lemon rind until
light and creamy. Add golden syrup and marmalade. Beat well. Add eggs one at a
time, beating well after each. Add 1 tablespoon flour with last egg. Sift
together flour, spices and salt and stir into creamed mixture alternately with fruit
and chopped almonds.

Spoon mixture into an 20cm square ort round tin lined with 2
thicknesses each of brown and greased greaseproof paper. Arrange extra almond
on top. Bake in a slow oven (150°C) for about 4 hours or until cooked. Remove
from oven and immediately sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon extra brandy.

Remove cake from tin, leaving paper on cake. Wrap in tea
towel and leave until cool.

To ice cake: If cake is to be iced, do not arrange almonds
on top. Brush top of cake with slightly beaten egg white. On a board dusted with
icing sugar roll out Almond Paste to cover top, put on cake and press gently
with rolling pin. Leave several hours or overnight. Make Fondant icing and roll
out to fit top of cake. Brush Almond Paste with egg white, put Fondant Icing on
top. Decorate and put cake frill around sides.

Almond Paste This quantity will cover top and sides of one20 cm cake, or
the tops only of two cakes.

Sift icing sugar, combine with ground almonds or marzipan
meal. Mix together lemon juice, sherry and egg yolk. Mix into icing sugar
nearly all at once to form a paste which can be rolled out. If mixture is too
dry, add a little more sherry.

Fondant Icing

450g icing sugar; 50g liquid glucose; 1 egg white;
flavouring

Sift icing sugar, make a well in the centre and add glucose,
egg white and flavouring. Beat. Drawing the icing sugar into the centre, until
the mass is a stiff paste. Turn on to a board lightly dusted with icing sugar
and knead into a paste. Use to cover top and sides of one cake, or tops only of
two.

Friday, 5 December 2014

Remove all the crusts from a brown sandwich loaf and a white one. Cut both loaves in 2cm slices and spread each slice with a soft tasty filling. Now rearrange the loaves by laying one slice of white on one slice of brown and continue putting the pieces alternately together until the loaf is square.

Make a second “loaf” with the other pieces. Put the loaves in a cold place to harden, then cut out in 2cm slices. Spread one side with filling and stick the pieces together so that a brown piece is next to a white piece. Put in a cold p[lace to become firm then cut into slices. These sandwiches, of course, need no further filling.

Toast the bread and keep hot. Put the cheese, mustard,
melted butter, milk and seasoning into a basin and mix well, spread the mixture
over the toast, and grill 2 of the slices till golden brown. Place the 2 slices
of pineapple on the remaining slice and grill. Arrange the slices on top of
each other, finishing with the pineapple slices on top. Decorate with a little
tomato ketchup in the centre of each pineapple slice.

Fried
Sandwiches

Fried bread sandwiches make a delightful change, and are
just as easy to prepare.

Sandwich frankfurters between fried bread, top with
sliced pineapple, and garnish with a gherkin fan.

Individual
Jelly Sponges

Make 900ml of jelly and allow it to cool but not set.
Arrange 2 Savoy fingers down each side of 6 waxed picnic cartons, cover them
with jelly and put them in a cool place. When set, arrange pieces of pineapple
on them, and cover with more jelly. Allow to set very firmly before packing.